


something real special

by ohlawsons



Series: cat nua [11]
Category: Pillars of Eternity, Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire
Genre: Deadfire Spoilers, F/M, Pillars Prompts Weekly, also @eder xoti is precious and you're gonna get along with her, for the veeeeeery beginning of the game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-03
Updated: 2018-06-03
Packaged: 2019-05-17 21:05:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14839154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohlawsons/pseuds/ohlawsons
Summary: “So, Edér,” Xoti clears her throat, and if she sounds flustered they’re both ignoring it, “how’d the two of you end up together? I mean, here. Traveling together, that is.” She leans forward, tilting her head a bit as if to try and catch his gaze.“Well, same as anyone else, I suppose.” He shrugs. “We took a boat.”





	something real special

**Author's Note:**

> written for @pillarspromptsweekly on tumblr! prompt 0042: defiant
> 
> also can i just say xoti is the most relatable character ever bc if i were thrown into the deadfire crew, i too would flirt uselessly with everyone

“You’re lookin’ real down.” Xoti plops down beside him at the fire, all bright eyes and wide smile as she sits cross-legged, giving her head a little tilt towards Neria. “Kinda like the Watcher’s gonna up and disappear any minute now.”

Edér says nothing, pressing his lips together to keep from saying something too harsh; it’s barely been a week, but already he isn’t fond of Xoti, despite Neria’s gentle ribbing that _surely_ he remembers what it was like, being that young and excitable. And that’s the point, really, because they’ve both seen too much and been through too much to share that energy, the adventurous glee that bubbles over into _everything_ Xoti does.

Like the way she’s watching Neria, now, as the Watcher busies herself with chopping up some more firewood for their quickly dwindling fire. Edér hadn’t even bothered asking to help, not with that look Neria had that he knows by heart, the one that she always gets when she needs something to distract herself with; the alternative is usually sparring, and his left shoulder is _still_ sore from their match on the beach the week before. He pokes at the smoldering fire, glancing up to watch Neria for a moment, her form hazy through the smoke, as she pauses to wipe sweat from her face before planting her hands on her hips and surveying the wood she’s gathered so far.

He’s certain that if he looks up at Xoti, she’ll be blushing right up to her ears.

He makes a point _not_ to look.

“So, Edér,” the priest clears her throat, and if she sounds flustered they’re both ignoring it, “how’d the two of you end up together? I mean, here. Traveling together, that is.” She leans forward, tilting her head a bit as if to try and catch his gaze.

“Well, same as anyone else, I suppose.” He shrugs. “We took a boat.”

“I’d gathered that much. I was talkin’ more _before_ the boat.”

He pokes at the fire again, and it pops and Xoti startles. “Eothas climbed out from under Caed Nua and the keep collapsed. I found her in the rubble two days later. Poor Penelope, she’d tore her paws all up trying to dig Neria out, and she’d barked herself hoarse by the time I showed up.” He frowns, his attention still deliberately focused on the fire. “I’ve seen her go out cold after she does her Watcher thing, but this was…” The rest of the thought sticks in his throat, and Edér doesn’t try to force it out.

_Like a Hollowborn_.

That’s what Neria said Berath had told her, back when… Well, before she woke up. Even now the thought sends a chill creeping down his spine, and his gaze drifts thoughtlessly over to Neria. Maybe Xoti’s right, he thinks, and he does watch her like she’ll disappear; doesn’t matter, though, because Xoti isn’t the one who had to pull Neria from the ruins of Brighthollow, or sit with her while her pulse grew so faint he was certain he was imagining it, or steady her when she finally woke because she was nearly too weak to stand on her own.

“But why the Deadfire?” Xoti presses, oblivious to the sharp look Edér gives her as she pulls him from his thoughts.

“It was the Steward’s idea,” he admits gruffly. “She thought Neria’s condition might be linked to Eothas, and we just needed to, y’know, catch up. Then we ran outta land and he just kept _goin_ ’, and the Defiant was the best ship we could get on such short notice.”

Xoti’s quiet for a moment, watching him with a mix of curiosity and confusion. “You plannin’ on going back? When this is all over, I mean,” she adds quickly. “Neria’s told me all about Caed Nua and how nice it was. Sounds like the kinda place I’d want to go back to if I’d been living there all those years.”

The question catches Edér off-guard, and he gives up on the fire as he sits back, thinking. The answer’s obvious, isn’t it? He’ll stay with her to see this through to the end, just like he did with the Legacy. And Caed Nua, and Stalwart, and Gilded Vale, and all the other, smaller trials they’d endured over the past six years. But going _back_? “Nah, I think I need to get some answers first ‘fore I can say for sure.” The words come easily enough but Edér isn’t sure he believes them, himself; however their confrontation with Eothas goes, Edér suspects going back to Caed Nua won’t feel like an option.

The question has darkened his mood significantly, but of course Xoti doesn’t seem to notice, and with a wistful sort of sigh she lets her shoulders drop and turns her gaze to Neria. “Did you really watch over her that whole time? It takes a real long while to sail from the Dyrwood,” she points out, “and she wasn’t movin’ or anything during that whole trip, was she? I know it’s only been a couple days, but the Watcher, she’s always _goin_ _’_ , always doing _somethin_ ’. Hard to imagine her being that still for that long.”

Edér says nothing, and Xoti — thank the gods — takes his silence as her answer.

She pulls her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms loosely around her legs. “She’s somethin’ real special, isn’t she? Even besides everything with Gaun.”

“Yeah, she is.” His shoulders drop and he wonders if maybe he hasn’t been too hard on Xoti; she’s right, after all — she’s only been traveling with them for a couple of days, and she knows less about _Neria_ and more about the Watcher and her lofty reputation as a Lady of a keep and dragonslayer and one chosen of the gods (And maybe, he thinks, that starry-eyed look Xoti gets around them both is more understandable, and it’s easier to pretend it’s just about Neria’s reputation). “No one else I’d rather be chasin’ a god with. If there’s anyone who can talk a little sense into Eothas, it’s Neria.” He feels a smile begin to creep across his lips — and it’s genuine, even — at the memory of a particularly amusing, albeit one-sided, chat she’d once had with Ondra back in Stalwart.

And then he thinks of the night he’d thought he’d actually lost her, only a few days before she’d woken up on the Defiant, and remembers that her last argument with a god had nearly gotten her sent back to the Wheel a little earlier than planned.

Eothas isn’t the sort — _shouldn_ _’t be_ the sort — to strike someone down for questioning him, but these days Edér doesn’t know what to expect from Eothas and the thought brings him less comfort than he’d hoped.

But there’s a spark about Xoti, again, and she’s staring off towards Neria with something like awe. “I still can’t believe she’s actually _talked_ to the gods. Talkin’ where they’ve talked _back_ , I mean.” She lets out a slow, wistful sigh. “And with Galawain, no less. It’s embarrassin’, the things I’d do to have a conversation with _my_ god like that.”

“Well, all _we_ had to do was track down and kill the leader of a two thousand year old cult.”

Their conversation comes to an abrupt end with the unceremonious clatter of wood as Neria dumps an armful of freshly cut logs on the ground. “Cheery bunch over here,” she observes with a wide grin, wiping her hands on her pants; her voice is steady, but Edér catches the shaking of her movements and the way she sways a bit on her feet. He doesn’t bother refuting the statement, instead taking her hand and giving her a tug in his direction. Without protest, Neria drops to the ground beside him, leaning heavily against him even as she’s seated. “I’m fucking exhausted.”

“Maybe ‘cause you split enough wood to last us the rest of the month?” Edér offers.

“I had to do _something_ ,” she insists, then leans forward around him. “Hey, Xoti, you never finished your story earlier about your uncle and that kid he caught you with.”

“That’s right!” Everything about Xoti lights up as she launches back into the retelling of some sordid tale that Neria will no doubt comment on and encourage. It isn’t exactly the way Edér would prefer to end the evening, but he takes solace in the fact that Neria feels well enough to join in on the conversation.

 

 


End file.
